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STRAT-O-MATIC INTERNET BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
2002-2003 SOMIBA CONSTITUTION
I. ORGANIZATION OF THE LEAGUE
A. The Strat-O-Matic Internet Basketball Association (SOMIBA) consists
of 24 teams from a pool of all 1999-2000 NBA players.
B. Each league member should have a reliable Internet e-mail account,
should check for messages every few days during the season and pre-
season and every day or two near deadlines, and must have the time
and the desire (and a computer) to create all gameplans for away
games and play all home games in the scheduled time frames.
C. In addition to the teams owned by live coaches, the league will
consist of a number of unowned teams (hereafter referred to as dummy
teams) which do not actually play games. Dummy teams simply serve as
a holding tank for unowned players in the league so that the live
teams will not be too all-star laden and so that new league members
will have a reasonable pool of talent from which they may draft new
teams.
1. The number of dummy teams is determined by subtracting the number
of owners in the league from 24.
2. The dummy teams are added to by Draft-O-Matic during the
rookie/free-agent draft and redrafted each year during the expansion
draft.
3. Players un-owned either by live owners or dummy teams will be
placed in the free-agent pool.
D. Divisions.
1. The league will consist of a number of divisions determined just
prior to the season.
2. Dummy teams are not put in divisions.
3. Divisions are randomly re-determined before every new season, with
the following exception: league members who are likely to play at
least a few or their matchups face-to-face will be placed, if
possible, in the same division and an attempt will be made to put new
teams in separate divisions (unless they want to be in the same
division for face-to-face play). If a local grouping of members
exists which does not allow for an approximately equal number of
teams in each division, then not all of these teams will be assigned
to the same division. The teams that are not assigned to that
division will be randomly determined.
E. There are several league officers which as a group form the Executive
Committee.
1. The duties of the Executive Committee include assisting the
Commissioner with:
a. Supervising all league play in general,
b. Providing final authority on rules interpretation,
c. Conducting the draft,
d. Creating and distributing the schedule,
e. Creating, distributing, and maintaining the rosters,
f. Keeping and distributing league statistics and standings, and
g. Judging the validity of trades.
2. The Commissioner each year will choose the Executive Committee.
F. Retention of players from year to year:
1. Live teams may retain up to but not more than 10 of their 16
players; the cut deadline for this is a few days before the
rookie/free-agent draft.
2. All players not retained are put into the free-agent pool for the
subsequent rookie/free-agent draft.
3. Each year a week-or-so before the rookie/free-agent draft an
expansion draft will be held for new league members. If there are no
new league members for that year then only dummy teams will
participate in the expansion draft.
4. Only players who played in the NBA the previous year are eligible
to be drafted in any draft. Players who did not play in the NBA the
previous year may, however, be kept on a roster if already there.
5. There are no free-agent pickups except for the rookie/free-agent
draft unless deemed necessary by the Executive Committee for a
particular case. Before the season begins each live team must make
certain that they have enough players with games and minutes
available at each position to cover the entire season - the
Commissioner will assist with the calculation of what's needed and
will make recommendations as appropriate. In addition, any trades
made after the season begins must take into account seasonal games
and minutes required. If any coach exceeds or violates minutes
and/or games limits then he or she will be subject to penalties
including, but not limited to, reduction of minutes and/or games
eligible for players the following year.
G. Each member of the league will choose a city/area and nickname for
his team. Coaches are not limited to actual NBA cities or nicknames
when naming their teams; however, team names must be approved by the
Commissioner and must be appropriate to good taste.
H. Each coach is expected to send gameplans to opposing coaches, play
games, and send game results to opposing coaches and to the
Commissioner on or before the schedule times. There are
approximately 10 away games and 10 away games in each quarter of the
season and each quarter lasts approximately 5 weeks.
I. If any player violates deadlines repeatedly, the Executive Committee
may impose additional penalties including expulsion from the league.
In any case, the Executive Committee will try to do this case-by-case
in a fair and impartial manner with advice from the league as a
whole. Cheating and other unethical activities will not at all be
tolerated.
J. A coach is considered to have failed to fulfill the requirements of
being in the league if he or she:
a. Does not send a legal gameplan by the deadline; or
b. Does not play and send to the Commissioner a home game result by
the deadline (the only exception to this is if the coach sends before
the deadline to the Commissioner a home gameplan for the game to be
autoplayed); or
Each occurrence of the above counts equally, though if absolutely no-
one, including the Commissioner, is (by their own definition)
inconvenienced then there is no occurrence. A coach with "too many"
occurrences will probably not be invited back into the league the
following year. Each case will be handled on an individual basis by
the Executive Committee, heavily depending upon the pre-occurrence
communication level of the league member regarding the occurrences in
question. The goal here is for zero occurrences to minimize
inconvenience to the rest of the league. While it's no fun to take a
hard line against slightly flaky coaches, it's less fun for the rest
of us to put up with the trouble of making extra gameplans and
wondering about the league as a whole.
Of course we all have "real" lives (yuck) which may sometimes
supersede our league commitments. Please have the courtesy to
communicate with the Commissioner regarding any situations which may
interfere with your league commitments. Failure to communicate
beforehand will not be looked on favorably regarding league
membership in future years. If something comes up please as soon as
possible simply e-mail or phone the Commissioner (or better yet the
entire league) what league commitments you will not be able to
fulfill and when you will be available for further communication.
For example, "Hey everyone, I just found out that I'm going out of
town for a week and won't be able to play games xxxxxxx [list of
unplayed games] by the coming deadline; I'll be back on 12/16 but
until then I'll be out of e-mail range." Situations can be handled
much more easily if we know about them beforehand with a
communication like that.
The Commissioner will provide a home phone number (925-280-9360) with
voice mail at which he can be reached within less than a day. It is
the responsibility of the sending coach to make sure that the
Commissioner receives whatever is needed as the Commissioner will
respond to all substantive e-mails with "received" or "not received"
as appropriate.
K. At any time any player may ask for and will receive free and open
advice from the Commissioner (and most any other league member) on
any SOMIBA-related issue including how to read this Constitution(!).
II. DRAFT
A. Expansion draft.
1. When new teams are added to the league before each new season
(after the new SOM team disk), an expansion draft will be conducted
by the Commissioner live in an Internet chatroom.
2. All of the players in the pool of dummy teams will be released to
the expansion pool before the expansion draft.
3. The number of dummy teams will be set at 24 minus the number of
current live coaches (including all new coaches).
4. The new live coaches will draft their teams from the above-
mentioned expansion pool.
5. They will draft against the dummy teams, who will draft by Draft-O-
Matic.
6. The draft will proceed with live coaches drafting in serpentine
format and dummies drafting at the end of every round. For example,
if there are 4 new teams and 6 dummy teams, the 4 new teams will each
draft one player, the 6 dummy teams will each draft one player, the 4
new teams will each draft another player (in reverse order of the
first round), the dummy teams will each draft another player, and so
on.
7. If there is only one new league member then one of the dummy teams
will be considered as a live team (and not as a dummy team) for
purposes of the expansion draft order. This dummy team will,
however, still be drafted by Draft-O-Matic. In this way the one new
league member will only have a 50% chance of getting the first pick
of the expansion draft (the one dummy team may get the first pick).
8. There will be 10 rounds; each team will draft 10 players. The
remaining un-drafted players will go into the rookie/free-agent pool.
B. Rookie/free-agent draft.
1. The yearly rookie/free-agent draft will begin on the Saturday just
before the beginning of the NBA season. A few days before the
rookie/free-agent each team will cut their roster down to 10 (or
fewer) players, with all cut players eligible in the rookie/free-
agent draft.
2. New and returning league members and each dummy team will
participate. Each team will draft a number of players necessary to
fill their team up to the roster limit of 16. After the draft there
will be a brief opportunity to pick up still un-drafted players -
each coach desiring this option after the draft will send to the
Commissioner a list of desired players with a list of cuts ("if I get
player Smith then I'll cut player Johnson") and the Commissioner will
hold a supplemental draft a day or two after then end of the
rookie/free-agent draft.
3. The first few rounds of the draft will be live in an Internet
chatroom while the rest of the draft will be via e-mail over the span
of a few days. Coaches who will be unavailable during significant
sections of the draft should e-mail the Commissioner a list of draft
choices.
4. The draft order will follow these rules and procedures:
a. The order of the top three picks in the first round will be
determined by lottery, as in the NBA and for the same reasons. The
lottery will be executed as follows:
1) In the following, the returning coach with the worst record
from the previous year is labeled W. The returning coach with
the 2nd to worst record is labeled 2W. The returning coach with
the 3rd to worst record is labeled 3W. A returning coach who
made the playoffs last year may not participate in this lottery.
This lottery which may be performed any time after the end of
the previous regular season does not become official until the
pre-season before the draft when coaches have made a declaration
that they will be returning.
2) A six-sided die will be rolled by the Commissioner. The
following rolls will dictate the following draft orders to be
placed in the grid in 5a below:
(1) W, 2W, 3W
(2) W, 2W, 3W
(3) W, 3W, 2W
(4) 2W, W, 3W
(5) 2W, 3W, W
(6) 3W, W, 2W
b. Tie-breakers for draft picks will be determined by coin toss.
However, if a tie-breaker was used for playoff positioning then
that same tie-breaker result will apply for draft choice
positioning - in other words, the team determined by tie-breaker to
be a higher seed will get the lower draft pick in the first round.
Teams with the same record will alternate drafting position in
even-numbered rounds.
c. New league members will be placed in the draft order after the
teams that did not make the playoffs and before the teams that made
the playoffs, in reverse order of the way they drafted in the first
round of the expansion draft.
d. The SOMIBA champion from the previous year will draft last while
the SOMIBA runner-up will draft second-to-last of returning teams.
e. Dummy team picks will be interspersed in each round with live
team picks as follows (there are 24 picks in every round) where D
is a dummy team pick and # is a live team pick. There may be cases
where a coach owns the draft pick of a team from last year which is
not returning in the current year, in this case the draft pick is
placed as if that team were returning (so that the round with that
draft pick in it will have one more "team" for the purposes of the
chart below); similarly, there may be rounds where there are fewer
"teams" in the chart below than teams in the league.
1) For 8 teams: #8, D, D, #7, D, D, D, #6, D, D, #5, D, D, #4,
D, D, #3, D, D, D, #2, D, D, #1
2) For 9 teams: #9, D, D, #8, D, D, #7, D, D, #6, D, #5, D, D,
#4, D, D, #3, D, D, #2, D, D, #1
3) For 10 teams: #10, D, D, #9, D, #8, D, D, #7, D, #6, D, D,
#5, D, #4, D, D, #3, D, #2, D, D, #1
4) For 11 teams: #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, D, #8, D, #7, D, #6, D,
D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, D, #2, D, #1
5) For 12 teams: #12, D, #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, #8, D, #7, D,
D, #6, D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1
6) For 13 teams: #13, D, #12, D, #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, #8, D,
#7, #6, D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1
7) For 14 teams: #14, D, #13, D, #12, D, #11, #10, D, #9, D, #8,
#7, D, #6, D, #5, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1
8) For 15 teams: #15, D, #14, #13, D, #12, D, #11, #10, D, #9,
#8, D, #7, D, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, D, #2, D, #1
9) For 16 teams: #16, D, #15, #14, D, #13, #12, D, #11, #10, D,
#9, #8, D, #7, #6, D, #5, #4, D, #3, #2, D, #1
10) For 17 teams: #17, #16, D, #15, #14, D, #13, #12, D, #11,
#10, #9, D, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, D, #2, #1
11) For 18 teams: #18, #17, #16, D, #15, #14, #13, D, #12, #11,
D, #10, #9, D, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, #4, D, #3, #2, #1
12) For 19 teams: #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14, D, #13, #12,
#11, #10, D, #9, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, #4,D, #3, #2, #1
13) For 20 teams: #20, #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14, #13, D,
#12, #11, #10, #9, D, #8, #7, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, #2, #1
14) For 21 teams: #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14,
#13, #12, #11, D, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, D, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1
15) For 22 teams: #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, D, #15,
#14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9, #8, D, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1
16) For 23 teams: #23, #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, #15,
#14, #13, #12, D, #11, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1
III. ROSTERS
A. For any one game, teams must have no more than 12 players set as
eligible and no less than 4 players set as ineligible.
B. Injuries will not be used, though a player is limited to his actual
number of NBA minutes (adjusted 5% upward) and games played during
the season. See the roster file for eligible player games and
minutes. If the Executive Committee has further limited a player's
games or minutes this will be indicated on the roster file.
C. Trading:
1. Trading is allowed with the following restrictions:
a. All coaches involved in a trade must send an e-mail to the
Commissioner stating the exact terms of the trade, with no
conditions withheld or secret.
b. When considering a trade proposal it is in each coach's best
interests to seek advice from other league members regarding the
deal. A coach who fails to do this is more-likely-than-not doing
his team and possibly the league a disservice.
c. Trades may only consist of exact and spelled-out combinations of
players and draft choices. No money or unspecified exchanges for
trade value may take place. Only draft choices of the next
occurring rookie/free-agent draft are eligible to be traded.
d. Trades will be reviewed as detailed later in this Constitution
e. Trading may only occur between the official announced beginning
of the pre-season (just after Strat-O-Matic releases its new team
disk) and a few days before the beginning of the regular season AND
during the two-or-so days of each of the season's first two session
breaks. No pre-season trade becomes official until all parties
involved in the trade are committed to playing in the league for
the current season. Trades may be "agreed to" at any other time;
however, if one of the players in a trade suffers a serious injury
(for example) before the trade is allowed to be made or if a
player's card is not nearly as good as it was expected to be it is
unreasonable to believe that the coach receiving that player will
still want to make the trade.
IV. PLAY
A. Logistics:
1. A league timetable of due dates and deadlines will be provided by
the Commissioner.
a. The regular season will consist of 82 games, 41 at home and 41
away and will be split into 4 sessions with approximately 10 home
and 10 away games per session.
b. Each session will last approximately five or six weeks.
c. For each game the home coach will either receive from the away
coach a gameplan for the game or the game will be played face-to-
face if desired by both coaches. After a coach has finished
creating each away gameplan for a particular quarter of the season
that coach should then zip up those gameplans into one file and e-
mail that file to the Commissioner before the gameplan deadline.
For ease most coaches will choose to send this zipped file to the
entire league instead of sending each individual gameplan to each
coach and this is perfectly acceptable. If a coach has not
received a particular gameplan for a home game then that coach may
e-mail the Commissioner requesting the gameplan; if the
Commmissioner has not received that gameplan then he will e-mail
the away team requesting that gameplan and if still not received
after another day or two the Commissioner will create a gameplan
for the away coach and send it to the home coach; the away coach
will receive at least a warning for not sending gameplans in time
and not responding to the Commissioner's reminder e-mail.
d. The deadlines for sending away gameplans will be approximately
three weeks before the deadline for sending home game results to
the Commissioner. If the game is scheduled for face-to-face but
the coaches end up not getting together for the game it is the
responsibility of the away coach to make sure the home coach and
the Commissioner receive a gameplan in time for the game to be
played and also the responsibility of the home coach to make sure
the game is played. If the home coach does end up sending to the
Commissioner the game result file before the deadline and no-one is
(by their own definition) inconvenienced then there is no
occurrence of a problem.
2. Approximately three days before each game result deadline the
Commissioner will e-mail the entire league with a list of game
results he has not yet received. If the game result (including gfl
and prt file) is not received by the game result deadline then at the
Commissioner's next opportunity if the game result is still not
received the Commissioner will use the away gameplan he has already
received for that game and he will autoplay the game using a "default
gameplan" (created by setting the eligible players, setting all
defensive coach profiles to zero, and letting the computer suggest
the lineup) for coaches who have not sent to him a gameplan for that
game. Please play games on time -- it's enough effort being
Commissioner without having to set up extra gameplans and autoplay
extra games.
3. The playoffs:
a. The playoffs consists of half of the live teams in the league
rounded down up to a maximum of ten teams.
b. The teams with the best records will make the playoffs
regardless of division.
c. In the playoff seeding charts below, the team with the best
record will be "1," the team with the second best record will be
"2," and so on.
d. A tie for the final playoff spot will be resolved by a one-game
playoff with the following tie-breakers determining the home team:
1) Head-to-head winning percentage.
2) Coin toss.
e. No team will be excluded from making the playoffs and no team
will be assured of making the playoffs due to a tie-breaker
involving no additional game(s). If multiple pre-playoff rounds
are needed to resolve three or more teams: if there is one playoff
spot available then team 3 will play team 2 with the winner playing
team 1 and the winner of that taking the spot; if there are two
playoff spots available then team 1 will play team 2 with the loser
playing team 3 and the loser of that missing out on the playoffs;
if there are four teams then a single-elimination-type tourney will
be held. There will be no games played limits in pre-playoff
games.
f. Playoff matchups are determined as follows:
1) For four teams: 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3
2) For five teams: 4 plays 5, in the second round 1 plays the
winner of 4 and 5 while 2 plays 3
3) For six teams: 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5, in the second round
1 plays the lower-ranked winner while 2 plays the higher-
ranked winner
4) For seven teams: 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5; in
the second round 1 plays the lowest-ranked winner
5) For eight teams: 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, and 4
plays 5; in the second round the highest-ranked team remaining
plays the lowest-ranked team remaining
6) For nine teams: 8 plays 9, in the second round 1 plays the
winner of 8 and 9; otherwise, same as for eight teams
7) For ten teams: 7 plays 10 and 8 plays 9, in the second
round 1 plays the lower-ranked winner in round one while 2
plays the higher-ranked winner in round one; otherwise, same
as for eight teams
g. Ties for playoff seeding will be broken as follows:
1) Head-to-head winning percentage.
2) Coin toss.
h. The first round will consist of a best-of-five-game series.
i. Second through final rounds will consist of best-of-seven-game
series.
j. All playoff rounds are single elimination.
k. Before each playoff round each participant must choose 12
players to be on the eligible roster for the entirety of that
playoff round.
l. The higher seeded team gets Home Field Advantage in games 1,
2, and 5 in a five-game series and in games 1, 2, 5, and 7 in a
seven-game series. All games use the "Neutral Court" setting.
m. The playoffs will take place as stated in the league timetable
sent out by the Commissioner at the end of the regular season.
B. Player usage
1. Players must be rated by SOM (that is, given minutes in the fatigue
grid) in the 1999-00N league at a given position in order to play at
that position. Eligibility will be listed on the league roster.
2. If a player is rated at a position, even if given only one minute
there, he may play that position as much as a coach wishes him to
within the constraints of his playing time limitations (see below).
The Commissioner will provide a league roster with all of the
eligible positions and total allowed fatigue grid minutes per game
for each player as well as the games and minutes allowed for each
player during the season.
3. Point guards may not play shooting guard unless rated to do so on
the roster.
4. Shooting guards may not play point guard unless rated to do so on
the roster.
5. Players will be limited to the number of games that they played in
the NBA regular season.
6. The games which a player must miss will be determined by the coach
before the Commissioner distributes the actual SOMIBA schedule.
a. Coaches will map out which players will miss which games (by
game number, 1-82), making sure that all other constraints (fatigue
grid rules, for example) can be satisfied in each game. Coaches
should try hard to schedule their players to miss consecutive games
so that it is much easier to play games during the season.
b. Coaches will then send this list to the Commissioner who will
review for each coach the validity of the list.
c. After randomly creating the schedule of games the Commissioner
will convert each team's games missed list to day numbers and send
the full list to the league and the web page rosters.
d. If a coach accidentally uses a player in a game for which that
player was scheduled to miss then the Commissioner should be
notified immediately to determine a course of action (usually
simply rescheduling the missed game later in the season against the
same opponent).
7. Players will be limited in SOMIBA season playing time to their
total number of NBA regular season minutes plus 5%. If a coach
accidentally overuses a player then that player must miss playoff
time on a two-for-one basis in the following way: if a player
averaged 24 minutes per NBA game and was overused in our regular
season by 18 minutes then he must miss the first playoff game and may
only play 12 minutes in an additional playoff game (this is in
addition to games missed from rule 8 below) for a total of 36 minutes
(which is 18 doubled); if a player is used in more regular season
games than allowed, then that player must miss two playoff games per
regular season game overused (missing at least the first two playoff
games). Purposeful overuse of players will not be tolerated and further
penalties will be imposed including being kicked out of the league. If
a coach overuses a player and that coach's team does not make the playoffs
then penalties will be imposed for the following year's regular season.
8. In the playoffs players are not limited in playing time (but are
still limited in the fatigue grid as described below) except in the
number of games they may play based upon the following chart: if a
player is eligible to play 1-14 regular season games then he may play
in 1 game per playoff series, if a player is eligible to play 15-29
regular season games then he may play in 2 games per playoff series,
if a player is eligible to play in 30-40 regular season games then he
may play in 3 games per playoff series, while a player who is
eligible to play in 41 or more regular season games is not limited in
this manner.
9. Setting the fatigue grid: the "fatigue grid" is the grid in the
gameplan with boxes for minutes listed at each position for each
player. [Contrast with the "lineup grid" which is the grid with the
6, 4, and 2 minute periods listed for each position during the game.]
a. Coaches must have at least 2 players with non-zero minutes
assigned in the fatigue grid per position for each game. Players
scheduled to miss the game must be set as ineligible and may not
count towards this 2-player limit.
b. A player must be assigned in the fatigue grid a number of
minutes equal to or less than the minutes per game listed for him
on the league roster. For example, a player rated on the roster at
PG and SG for a total of 35 minutes per game may be assigned 4
minutes at PG and 31 minutes at SG in the fatigue grid. Since we
use the "static" fatigue system there is really no need to modify
the fatigue grid at all (except for the computer coach to determine
fatigue and foul-trouble replacements in road games).
10. Maximum number of minutes a player can play in a game:
a. Though a player is not limited in the minutes he may play in any
particular game, the fatigue grid rules above present various
limits for each player.
b. A player may not be given minutes in any grid nor play at a
position where he does not have minutes allocated on the league
roster (in other words, Sabonis is never allowed to play guard!).
C. Additional game rules:
1. All play will be done on the computer. No board gaming with dice
is allowed.
2. A player may only guard an opposing position (through the use of
the "assign" button) if the defender is rated to play that position
(Sabonis is never allowed to defend a guard!). Exception: a player
currently playing point guard may defend the opposing shooting guard
and a player currently playing shooting guard may defend the opposing
point guard. For example, a player playing SF rated by SOM at
SG/SF/PF may defend against the opposing PF (as long as all other
defensive matchups are also legal) but may not defend against the
opposing PG.
3. Face-to-face. Follow this sequence of events for setting strategy.
In each of the steps below, the visiting team makes its move first,
followed by the home team.
a. Select lineups.
b. Position offensive players (either inside or outside).
c. Set defensive match-ups.
d. Set defensive double-teaming.
e. Name players playing safe.
f. Name defensive inside block defender/intimidator.
g. Name type of offense (normal or fast break).
h. Name type of defense (normal or press).
i. Name style of defense (normal, close, or sag) for each player.
4. If a league member accidentally violates a rule during a game (for
example, accidentally setting his team for "home court advantage"
for his home team LOS against team NYO) then he must inform the
Commissioner who will have the Executive Committee impose a fair
penalty (for example, when NYO is next the home team against LOS
"home court advantage" should be used).
D. Option Settings in the game:
1. The Option Settings screens will appear after you start a league
basketball game. You must set to "manual" the game you want to play.
2. Select these settings on the following options:
a. On the Start Play screen
1) Which Days = Current Day Only
2) Summary Files = Save Summary Files
3) Home Court Advantage = Neutral Court
4) Rules = Current Rules
b. On the Update Preferences screen
1) Save Game Files
2) No Injuries
3) Visiting Team = Computer Coach (unless playing face-to-face)
4) Home Team = Human Coach
c. On the Autorest screen
1) Static Fatigue
2) No Autorest
E. Setting up computer coach profiles and gameplans:
1. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game.
2. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach and
select the 199-00I league.
3. Set Defensive Profile. You should select the specific opponent you
are to be playing on this road game because this defensive profile
will be included in the gameplan sent to him and will be imported
into his system.
a. Select your opponent for the game.
b. Follow the instructions on the screen and in the manual for
these settings. Contact the Commissioner or another league member
for assistance if desired.
4. Select Gameplan and your team.
5. Edit your Gameplan -- the FATIGUE GRID screen:
a. GP = Actual games played. You may not change this number.
b. GS and INPCT. These numbers are mostly irrelevant to our
league. However, you may not modify the INPCT from 0 or 100 - a
player with INPCT=0 may not play inside and a player with INPCT=100
may not play outside on offense.
c. STLSHT = The Steal Shoot percentage which tells the computer
coach how often this player is to take a fastbreak shot off a steal
rating.
d. BLK = This number is irrelevant to our league except that YOU
MUST ENTER ZERO BLK MINUTES FOR A PLAYER WHO HAS ZERO MINUTES
ASSIGNED IN THE FATIGUE GRID or else the game will not run at all
(this is a bug in the sombk program).
e. PG, SG, SF, PF, C = These fields list the fatigue minutes to be
played at each position. A player may not be gridded at a position
for which he is not rated on the league roster. In each game at
least 2 PLAYERS MUST BE ASSIGNED FATIGUE GRID MINUTES AT EACH
POSITION. There is little reason to modify these numbers now that
we use the "static" fatigue system.
f. For the remaining fields on this screen, refer to the SOM manual
or ask the Commissioner for assistance.
6. Edit your Gameplan -- the LINEUP GRID screen: you may set the
lineup grid however you like with the restriction that a player may
not be gridded at a position for which he is not rated on the league
roster. For example, a player listed on the league roster at
SG/SF/PF may never play or be gridded to play PG or C though he may
be lineup gridded to play any amount of time at any of his eligible
positions. Keep in mind that any player gridded for more than 12
consecutive minutes in any half will probably fatigue and be replaced
by the computer coach during that time.
7. Exporting a gameplan file to another coach:
a. First, determine what day on the schedule the game is to be
played:
1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League Game.
2) Select the 1999-00I league.
3) Page ahead using N for next day until you come to the game in
question. If you look at the top of the listing of games for
that day it gives the schedule-related day number.
4) Write this number down.
b. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game.
c. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach.
d. Select the 1999-00I league and your team.
e. See above for instructions on creating the defensive profile and
your gameplan. Make certain that you set as "ineligible" those
players who are scheduled to miss the game - this is the easiest
thing to make a mistake on and it's a pain in the butt for everyone
(including the Commissioner) to correct this mistake - so DOUBLE-
CHECK your gameplan versus the days missed list on the roster.
f. Once you have set the defensive profile and the gameplan as you
want (within league rules), from the screen with the lineup grid
choose Export Gameplan.
g. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:.
h. When prompted for a filename, name the file according to these
conventions:
1) filename = AAAHHHnn
2) AAA represents the 3 character symbol for the away team
3) HHH represents the 3 character symbol for the home team
4) nn represents the two digit number for the day on the schedule
(see a above). For example, if you are team LOS, the team you
are sending the gameplan to is NYO, and the game is scheduled
for day 34 then type LOSNYO34.
i. The gameplan will be exported to the diskette.
j. Completely exit the game to DOS (for DOS or Windows assistance
please contact the Commissioner or another league member); the
simple version of the rest of this section is to e-mail the
gameplan to the opposing coach and keep a copy of the gameplan in
case the recipient didn't receive it; alternatively, even easier
than this is to finish creating your gameplans for the current
quarter of the season, zip them up into one single file, and send
that file to the entire league and do not delete that zip file.
k. From the DOS prompt at C:\SOMBK> type the command
GPEXPORT AAA HHH nn (where AAA, HHH, and nn are defined above) and
hit <Enter>. For example, if you are team LOS, the team you are
sending the gameplan to is NYO, and the game is scheduled for day
34 then type GPEXPORT LOS NYO 34.
l. The computer will then move the gameplan from the diskette into
the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory which the coach will
use for all uploads and downloads of files.
m. Compose an e-mail message to the opposing coach.
n. Attach the gameplan file to the message
1) it will have a name of the format AAAHHHnn.GPL
2) it will be in the directory \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER
3) attach it as a binary file
4) do not attach multiple files to a single e-mail
8. Importing gameplan files from other coaches:
a. When you receive the e-mail message that has the opposing team's
gameplan attached to it, save the attached file (it should have a
name with the format AAAHHHnn.GPL) in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\
TRANSFER directory. Also, LET THE OTHER COACH KNOW THAT YOU
RECEIVED HIS GAMEPLAN by an e-mail message "I received the
gameplan."
b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS.
c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
d. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:.
e. Type GPIMPORT AAA HHH nn (for example GPIMPORT LOS NYO 34) and
hit <Enter>; alternatively, you may simply copy the gameplan onto
the diskette.
f. The opposing coach's gameplan will be moved onto the diskette.
g. Go into the SOM Basketball game.
1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League game.
2) Select the 1999-00I league.
3) Find the game in question, using page ahead or jump.
4) Change the game from Hold to Manual.
5) Start the game.
6) From the Lineup screen of the opposing team, choose Import
gameplan.
7) When prompted for a filename, click on the asterisk to list
the files on the diskette. The appropriate gameplan file will
be named with the convention AAAHHHnn.GPL (with AAA, HHH, and nn
defined previously).
8) Select the appropriate gameplan file. It will be imported
into your system.
9) Click on Continue to begin the game. If once you get to the
first strategy screen just before the game begins you notice
that the opposing coach has set a player who was scheduled to
miss the game as "eligible" then quit the game (right-click the
mouse at this point to abort the beginning of the game) and ask
the coach to send to you a legal gameplan - also notify the
Commissioner of the error in the gameplan
10) You may shoot 3-pointers, call timeouts, etc. as desired
during the game. However, you may only play the press defense
when you are not ahead by 10 or more points in the game (if you
are ahead by 10 and still pressing then you must press F1 and
call timeout to stop the press defense) and you may not play
press defense for more than 12 minutes in any one game.
9. Exporting game results to the opposing coach and to the
Commissioner:
a. On the Process Game Files menu there is a selection entitled
Export Game File. Do not use this as it is not necessary.
b. Once the game is complete MAKE SURE THAT YOU WRITE THE BOXSCORE
TO A PRT FILE (this is an option listed after every game) AND WRITE
DOWN THE FILENAME (something like 990i0001.PRT).
c. Completely exit the game to DOS; for the simple version of the
rest of this section create a zip file of the appropriate name (for
example, LOSNYO34.ZIP) which contains all three of the 990i0001
files which includes the 990i0001.GFL, 990i0001.PRT, and
990i0001.SUM files and send this zip file to the Commissioner and
to your opponent.
d. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
e. You will use the SNDRESLT.BAT program to prepare your zip file
to send to the opposing coach:
1) Type SNDRESLT gamefilename zipfilename (do not include file
extensions) and hit <enter>
2) The 2 parameters:
a) gamefilename is the name given by SOM to the boxscore prt
file (see b. above) -- for example, 990i0001.
B) zipfilename of the outgoing zipfile: The naming convention
for the outgoing zipfile is AAAHHHnn:
i. AAA = the 3 character symbol for away team and
ii. HHH = the 3 character symbol for home team
iii. nn = day number in schedule
3) For example, SNDRESLT 990i0001 LOSNYO34
f. The game file, the game summary file, and the box score file
will be compressed into a zip file, given the name you entered into
the zipfilename, and moved into the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER
directory.
g. Compose an e-mail message to the opposing coach AND TO THE
COMMISSIONER. If you do not receive acknowledgment from the
Commissioner that he received the file, assume that he did not
receive the file -- resend the game result.
h. Attach the game result file to the message:
1) it will have a name of the format AAAHHHnn.ZIP in the
\SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory
2) attach it as a binary file
3) do not attach multiple files to a single e-mail.
10. Importing game results from opposing coach after an away game
(while this step is not really necessary since the Commissioner keeps
official records of game results, it may help you stay within minutes
limits of your players):
a. When you receive the e-mail message that has the opposing team's
game result files attached to it, save the attached file (it should
have a name with the format AAAHHHnn.ZIP) in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\
SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory
b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS; for the simple version of
the rest of this section unzip the file and copy the 990i0001.GFL
file to diskette and Import Game File on that gfl file.
c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
d. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:.
e. You will be using the program RECRESLT.BAT to prepare for
loading the game file into your game system. Type
RECRESLT AAA HHH nn (for example, RECRESLT LOS NYO 34) and hit
<Enter>.
f. The game result files will be moved to the appropriate
\SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\9899AWAY\AAA directory for that opposing team
(there are eighteen directories under 9899AWAY, one for each team)
and will be copied onto the diskette in drive A:.
g. Go into the SOM Basketball game:
1) From the Main Menu select Statistical Functions.
2) From the Statistical Functions Menu select Process Game Files.
3) From the Process Game Files menu select Import Game File.
4) When prompted for a filename, click on the asterisk to get a
list of files on the diskette.
5) Select the appropriate game file (with the extension .GFL)
6) The game result will be imported into your system.
h. At the end of each session of the season the Commissioner will
send to each coach a league update containing game results for all
games to date. In addition, the Commissioner will keep the web
page up-to-date with current stats and game results.
11. Backing up league files (not a necessary step):
a. This is a program which may be executed every time the
Commissioner sends the coach a league update at the beginning of
each session.
b. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
c. Type BKUPLEAG and hit <Enter>.
d. The league files, roster files, and league schedule will be
zipped and stored in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\BKUP9899\LEAGFILS
directory.
12. Backing up game files (not a necessary step):
a. This is a program that may be executed after every few games
played.
b. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
c. Type BKUPGAME and hit <Enter>.
d. The game files, game summary files, and box score files will be
zipped and stored in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\BKUP9899\GAMEFILS
directory.
13. Cleaning up after sending the gameplan file (not a necessary
step but an extremely helpful one):
a. When you receive the e-mail message that your opponent has
received the gameplan file you sent him, it is time to run a
cleanup program.
b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS.
c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
d. You will be using the program GPSENT.BAT to cleanup after a
gameplan file send. Type GPSENT AAA HHH nn (for example,
GPSENT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>.
e. After execution of this batch program, a backup of the gameplan
file you sent can be found in the SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA
\TRANSFER\TRANSBAK directory as well as in the AWAY9899 directory
associated with that particular team.
14. Cleaning up after sending the game result file (not a necessary
step but an extremely helpful one):
a. When you receive the e-mail message that the Commissioner has
received the game results file you sent him, it is time to run a
cleanup program.
b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS.
c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
d. You will be using the program GAMESENT.BAT to cleanup after a
game results file send. Type GAMESENT AAA HHH nn (for example,
GAMESENT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>.
e. After execution of this batch program, a backup of the game
results file you sent can be found in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA
\TRANSFER\TRANSBAK directory as well as in the AWAY9899 directory
associated with that particular team.
F. Known bugs in the SOM computer basketball game:
1. If any player's gameplan fatigue grid minutes are set to zero and
you click on Set Eligible Players from within the pre-league-game
Lineup screen, you receive a "floating point, divide by zero" error
message and are kicked out to DOS. The solution is just don't do
this. You may instead look at your team's eligible players in the
Program Computer Coach section (editing your gameplan) and determine
the visiting team's eligible players once the game has started by
looking at the players listed on bench. If once you get to the first
strategy screen just before the game begins you notice that the
opposing coach has set a player scheduled to miss the game as
eligible then quit the game (right-click the mouse at this point to
abort the beginning of the game) and ask the coach to send to you a
legal gameplan - also notify the Commissioner of the error in the
gameplan.
2. If a player is assigned more than zero BLK minutes within the
fatigue grid but is assigned zero playing minutes at all positions in
the fatigue grid then when you try to begin the game/jumpball you
will receive a "floating point, divide by zero" error message and be
kicked out to DOS. The solution is to assign a player with zero
fatigue grid minutes zero BLK minutes.
1999-2000 Constitution Addendum - League Rulings and Executive Committee
The Executive Committee this year consists of Ed, Rick, Charles, and
Peter. Only league members who have been in the league for at least one
full season may become league officers 1-5. League officers 6 and
beyond will not be involved in league rulings (and therefore the
qualifications for being league officers will be relatively very lax)
except under rare circumstances. There will always be at least 3 league
officers involved in every non-obvious ruling; the Commissioner will
make a decision on what is "obvious" such as those cases explicitly and
exactly covered in the Constitution. The Commissioner will attempt to
err on the side of calling for league officer votes rather than make a
league ruling on the spot. In some rare cases (mostly huge issues
and/or issues where time is not a major factor) the Commissioner may
call for a league-wide vote which will follow the same rules as league
officer votes.
During league rulings any league business directly depending upon the
result of a ruling will be halted until the ruling is rendered. All
rulings in process and those already decided will be posted on the web
page as time permits. No secret ballots are allowed and each vote will
be listed with a name beside it. The Commissioner will perform and
count all votes even for votes in which he is not participating.
League officers will listen to any and all discussions by any league
member on the subject of an upcoming ruling and of course discussion may
and often should occur but at no point will a league officer say to
someone anything to the effect of "my vote is completely dependent upon
your opinion" as this puts too much pressure on the person giving the
opinion, especially if that person is not a league officer and/or is
directly involved in the situation the league is ruling upon. It is not
at all up to the "injured" party to ask for a league ruling (though of
course anyone may discuss what they want); rather, it is up to the
league officers to maintain the integrity of the league by ruling on all
league situations whether or not someone feels "injured." For example,
if coach A overuses player Smith against coach B a league ruling will be
made regardless of whether or not coach B cares (though coach B's input
is desired as is the input of everyone involved).
All league rulings will take no longer than two days (hopefully less)
from the time it is brought to the Commissioner's attention except under
extraordinary circumstances or during few-day-pre-announced periods of
time when the Commissioner is not available. In any case where a league
ruling is needed each league officer will be given a choice of rulings
and will also be free to submit their own ruling. The Commissioner will
lay down general guidelines of each ruling as situations come up (for
example, "this ruling it seems may take longer than two days as
additional discussion seems to be necessary") though the Commissioner
may modify the guidelines of a specific ruling if the situation
warrants. If the Commissioner has been disqualified from a league
ruling then the highest-ranked league officer involved in the ruling
process may if the issue is big enough in his opinion call for a league-
wide vote on the issue with a four-day time limit.
If a league officer's team is directly involved in the outcome of a
ruling then that league officer will not rule on that ruling. An
example of this is when one or more of the reasonable choices for the
ruling will potentially directly benefit or disadvantage that league
officer's team. The Commissioner will determine which league officers
are ineligible for each league ruling. If the Commissioner does not
disqualify himself from a league ruling then any league officer may call
for a vote of league officers (not including the Commissioner or any
league officer already disqualified by the Commissioner) on whether or
not the Commissioner may vote on that specific league ruling; this vote
will as with most other votes take no longer than two days, if by that
time not enough votes are cast (see below for criteria, basically 3
votes are needed) then the Commissioner may vote on that specific issue.
If a league officer feels that the Commissioner ruled a decision as
"obvious" (and therefore the Commissioner made the decision without a
league officer vote) then any league officer may call for a vote of all
other league officers (not including the Commissioner) to decide whether
the ruling made by the Commissioner should stand. The normal two-day
timeframe for this vote is in effect but if the vote takes longer than
that then that is acceptable. However, unlike all other votes league
business will not be halted during this vote. If the vote in this case
is to rule the issue as "non-obvious" and therefore the issue should
have been put up to a league officer vote then league business which
directly depends upon the ruling will halt at that time and the process
of ruling on the issue will start over. If business already depending
upon the ruling has already taken place then the league officers will be
voting on what to do taking that into consideration.
The Voting Process:
For any ruling the Commissioner will determine what 5 league officers
are eligible in order of hierarchy. The Commissioner will then send out
a "ballot" to each of those 5 with choices for the ruling. Inherent in
each ballot is the comment "If you feel that further discussion is
necessary or if you feel that an option not listed is appropriate then
please let me know asap and perhaps the two-day deadline will be
extended." Each of the 5 league officers should rank each choice in
desired order with specific and clear votes; for example, "my first
choice is option 3, then option 2, then option 1."
After two days either all 5 votes will be used or, if less than 5 were
received in time, only 3 votes will be used (always an odd number except
in rare league-wide votes; if 4 votes are received then the vote from
the lowest-ranked league member will be discarded unless it would
successfully resolve a tie). All league officer votes will include at
least 3 votes and if due to lack of votes the two-day deadline needs to
be extended then the Commissioner will decide to wait or else will make
a ruling on the spot. An abstention is counted as no vote whatsoever.
If the majority of votes used list one option as the top choice then
that choice will be enacted. Otherwise each vote will have a point
score associated with each choice –- 3 points for the top choice, 2 for
the second choice, and 1 for the third choice (or 4,3,2,1 if there are 4
choices; and so on). The top two choices of point total will have a
runoff with the existing votes already received where the highest-ranked
remaining choice of each ballot will count as the choice on that ballot.
If there is a tie for the second-highest choice (or a more-than-two-way
tie for the highest choice) then the highest-ranked voting league
officer (usually the Commissioner) will decide which of those break the
tie and participate in the runoff.
For example, say there are choices A, B, C, and D for a league ruling.
If all 5 participating league officers respond and 2 choose A while each
other chooses one each of the other choices then this 2 will not be a
majority and point totals will be tallied for each choice. If A
receives 8 points, B receives 10 points, C receives 8 points, and D
receives 4 points then the Commissioner will look at the vote of the
highest-ranked league officer (probably himself) and choose the most
preferable choice between A and C on that vote; either A or C will have
a runoff with B. Say in this example that it's a runoff between B and C
then take each of the votes and whichever choice is listed as more
preferable than the other on the majority of votes then that choice will
be enacted.
Trade Approval:
All trades involving new league members – that is, league members who
have not played through at least one full season -- go through a league
approval process based upon the "questionable trades" section below
before they become official. Trades will go through the same voting
process as league rulings with the following choices: A) The trade is
approved or B) The trade is denied as stated though the trade may be
reworked.
All trades not involving new league members become official when they
are acknowledged by the Commissioner as received from all involved
coaches. The Commissioner will notify the Executive Committee of all
trades and any member of the Executive Committee may call for a vote of
the Executive Committee as outlined above for trades involving new
league members at which time the trade is no longer official and is put
on hold pending the outcome of the vote.
Examples of questionable trades:
a)A coach knowing or even suspecting that he is in his last year in the
league trades away an inordinate amount of future value (young players
and/or draft picks) in a trade for present value veteran players;
b) A coach who becomes disenchanted with the league and no longer takes
it seriously makes an imbalanced trade;
c) A coach who takes advantage of a new player by ripping him off in a
trade, the ripoff may even be slight and intentional and yet still be a
deal which disadvantages the team of the new player;
d) Any trade in which one team involved in the trade benefits much more
than another team involved in the trade due to the second team hurting
his own team intentionally or unintentionally.
The above examples are not all-inclusive; other possibilities exist. It
is left to the judgment of the Executive Committee to determine what is
questionable and when to call for a vote. When in doubt the Executive
Committee should tend to play it safe and call for a vote. It is
probably the most important duty of members of the Executive Committee
to avoid the situation in which a team gains success by making trades
which at the time fairly clearly disadvantage other teams as the league
becomes a lot less fun when teams get stronger due to unfair trades.
League Ruling Guidelines:
The following are only guidelines but they should be used where they
apply. In extraordinary cases the Commissioner may override any league
ruling –- and bear the responsibility of such a decision –- if a vote on
a huge issue takes the league in an inappropriate direction. Examples
of this are if league guidelines are clearly not being followed or if
other non-desired elements are added into the league (including but not
limited to the inclusion of salary caps or real money into the league).
Ultimately the Commissioner who is responsible for the large bulk of
administrative work in the league must be comfortable with the league
for which he is the Commissioner.
Other than the specific written guidelines here fairness should be the
goal in any league ruling (and hopefully fairness guides are included
below), fairness to those involved in the decision and fairness to the
league as a whole. If a league member violates a rule is the penalty to
that league member fair considering the offense and the advantage given
to the "injured" party fair? If the league member pointed out their own
unintentional mistake then that should reflect favorably in cases not
explicitly covered below especially if the mistake would not likely have
been noticed otherwise.
If a league member intentionally commits an offense due to not taking a
particular rule seriously then in general a ruling should double the
severity of the penalty or triple it if the coach does not regret the
error. If a league member intentionally commits an offense for the
probable purpose of making the team's or a player's record or stats
better or worse then this cheating is clear grounds for expulsion of the
league member (for stats doctoring perhaps removal of some player
eligibility for the playoffs or next season while for cheating to win or
lose a game perhaps league expulsion is appropriate). In any case the
"injured" coach should not gain extra advantage other than to make up
for the original offense; any further penalty (for example, a punitive
penalty) should benefit the league overall or else random teams (as
decided by the specific league ruling).
If a league member is not able to play games or send gameplans for a
period of time then it is acceptable for that league member to pre-send
to the Commissioner gameplans both for away games and for home games;
these home games will be autoplayed. This applies also to the playoffs.
However, this sort of thing and especially repeat occurrences is not
what the league is about -– autoplays are not a fun part of the league
though they may be necessary sometimes in emergencies.
If a coach has doubts that he will be able to fulfill his league
obligations for the current season but will sincerely probably be able
to in the following season (and this is to be voted on by the Executive
Committee whether it appears to be true) then that coach may keep his
team although not play in the current season. In this case no trades
are allowed with that team for the year(s) in which the team is not
playing games, the team must field at least 246 games and 4000 minutes
per position and 20000 minutes overall as all other teams must (and if
necessary a league-officers-constructed swap may be made between the
team and the remaining expansion pool to fulfill these requirements),
and in the rookie/free-agent draft of the season following a season in
which games are not played the draft position of the team will fall
third-to-last of all returning teams. If a coach has traded during the
pre-season but later decides that he does not have enough time to play
games that season then those trades will be further reviewed and while
they may not be overturned league officers may impose penalties of
removing or decreasing draft choices if they determine that the trade
was made knowing the potential for not being able to play in the league.
For example, if during the pre-season coach A trades away good very old
player Johnson for a young player or a draft choice and then later coach
A decides not to play games that season and if the league officers
decide that coach A made the trade in part because he may not be playing
games that season then the league officers may decide to lower coach A's
first-round rookie/free-agent draft choice (in the next rookie/free-
agent draft) 8 spots of returning coaches.
In general it is acceptable for someone who is not in the league to take
over a team if requested to do so by a coach unable to play games or by
the Commissioner for filling the place of a coach who left the league in
mid-season. In this case the replacement coach will not be able to keep
the team the following season but may join the league via the expansion
draft as any other new league member.
If a league member leaves the league then his team is thrown into the
Expansion Pool. However, if there are X such teams being thrown into
the pool and there are exactly X league members wanting to join the
league for that year and those new league members specifically request
to take over the teams being thrown in (and if X > 1 then all of the new
league members must agree to which team they request) then this may be
acceptable –- this issue would be put up to an Executive Committee vote
if it happens. It is unfair for 2 people to be joining the league and
for 1 of them to take over an existing team while the other draft from
the Expansion Pool even if this is desired by all parties.
It is generally not acceptable for a coach to throw in his team for a
new team to be drafted from the Expansion Pool as if a new coach.
However, if it is clear that the coach did not inordinately weaken his
current team's future by inordinately strengthening its past then the
Executive Committee will consider the request if unusual circumstances
have occurred. For example, if a coach's team has had bad luck with
regard to player choices with good players being seriously injured
and/or promising young players turning out to be bad then the Executive
Committee may allow a coach requesting it to throw in his team for a new
expansion-drafted team.
In the regular season there will be no game replays as this puts too
much of an operational burden on the Commissioner once the game has been
imported and is in general contrary to the philosophy of the league.
The Commissioner may make a very rare exception to this if he feels that
it is warranted (and the Commissioner almost never feels that it is) and
in that case may include a game replay as an option on the ballot for
the Executive Committee vote. The only example which comes to mind in
which a replay in the regular season might be appropriate is if a coach
A intentionally cheats in a game he wins (coach A would probably be
expelled from the league at this point), this game knocks coach B out of
playoff contention, and the Commissioner has not yet imported the game
result.
Playoff Rulings:
During the playoffs replays may be done under certain circumstances. No
replays will be done without a vote of the league officers.
If any player is used in any game for any number of minutes over allowed
and that team wins the game then the game will be replayed and any games
which have been played after that still count; the Commissioner is
responsible for noticing any overuses. The only exception to this is if
somehow the road team's player was overused due to an error by the home
team's coach in which case the result will stand; the Commissioner will
review the away team's gameplan and if he or any of the league officers
feel that the home coach has made an error then the league officers will
vote on whether or not the game needs to be replayed.
Simply put, if the winning coach made any error causing any material
benefit or overuse of any player then the game will be replayed. For
example, setting "home court advantage" when not supposed to will cause
that game to be replayed if the home team won the game. The league
officers will determine what is "material" but it should use the
broadest criteria in determining this –- only errors causing no change
in game winning possibilities whatsoever for either team should
eliminate the need for a replay.
If a league officer makes an error which benefits (as decided by the
league officers) a team which ended up winning the game then that game
should be replayed. If the league officer's error did not benefit the
winning team in any way whatsoever then the game result should stand.
It is realized thus that if a league officer makes an error which
benefits team A then that puts team A at a disadvantage since a win in
that game only means a replay but a loss means a loss but as long as the
error was inadvertent then "those are the breaks". League officers (and
everyone) should try very hard not to make errors.
If a player is overused for any minutes in a game in which that player's
coach lost (and the player's coach caused the error) then beginning with
the next game it will be treated as if the player were overused in the
regular season –- see those guidelines (i.e., has to miss double the
games or minutes of the overuse in the next games). If an error other
than player overuse is made by a losing coach then no penalties will be
assessed as long as that error does not affect any other game(s).
If an error is not noticed once the next round of the playoffs has begun
(which is announced by the Commissioner at least two days after the end
of the previous round) then no replays will be done for that error,
though games/minutes penalties will be assessed (whether or not the game
was won or lost) from the time the error was noticed. If the next round
of the playoffs has not begun then replays will occur as outlined above,
though any errors should be brought to the Commissioner's attention
immediately.
If any error is made which is determined by league officers to probably
be on purpose then additional penalties will be imposed by the Executive
Committee. If the intentional error is made for the probable purpose of
making the team's or a player's record or stats better or worse then
that is considered cheating and will be dealt with very harshly up to
and including immediate expulsion from the league. If the intentional
error is made for some other less malign reason then in general no
additional penalties should be issued further than the ones listed above
for unintentional errors which include replays and are thus fairly
harsh. However, any intentional error reflects on the coach's integrity
and therefore on the league's desire to continue the membership of that
coach.
Summary of Game Rules and Game Settings from Constitution
A coach is considered to have failed to fulfill the requirements of
being in the league if he or she:
a. Does not send a legal gameplan by the deadline; or
b. Does not play and send to the Commissioner a home game result by
the deadline (the only exception to this is if the coach sends before
the deadline to the Commissioner a home gameplan and, if received,
the away team's gameplan for the game to be autoplayed).
Player usage
1. Players must be rated by SOM (that is, given minutes in the fatigue
grid) in the 1999-00N league at a given position in order to play at
that position. Eligibility will be listed on the league roster.
2. If a player is rated at a position, even if given only one minute
there, he may play that position as much as a coach wishes him to
within the constraints of his playing time limitations (see below).
The Commissioner will provide a league roster with all of the
eligible positions and total allowed fatigue grid minutes per game
for each player as well as the games and minutes allowed for each
player during the season.
3. Point guards may not play shooting guard unless rated to do so on
the roster.
4. Shooting guards may not play point guard unless rated to do so on
the roster.
5. Players will be limited to the number of games that they played in
the NBA regular season.
6. The games which a player must miss will be determined by the coach
before the Commissioner distributes the actual SOMIBA schedule.
a. Coaches will map out which players will miss which games (by
game number, 1-82), making sure that all other constraints (fatigue
grid rules, for example) can be satisfied in each game. Coaches
should try hard to schedule their players to miss consecutive games
so that it is much easier to play games during the season.
b. Coaches will then send this list to the Commissioner who will
review for each coach the validity of the list.
c. After randomly creating the schedule of games the Commissioner
will convert each team's games missed list to day numbers and send
the full list to the league and the web page rosters.
d. If a coach accidently uses a player in a game for which that
player was scheduled to miss then the Commissioner should be
notified immediately to determine a course of action (usually
simply rescheduling the missed game later in the season against the
same opponent).
7. Players will be limited in SOMIBA season playing time to their
total number of NBA regular season minutes plus 5%. If a coach
accidentally overuses a player then that player must miss playoff
time on a two-for-one basis in the following way: if a player
averaged 24 minutes per NBA game and was overused in our regular
season by 18 minutes then he must miss the first playoff game and may
only play 12 minutes in an additional playoff game (this is in
addition to games missed from rule 8 below) for a total of 36 minutes
(which is 18 doubled); if a player is used in more regular season
games than allowed, then that player must miss two playoff games per
regular season game overused (missing at least the first two playoff
games). If a team may not thus create a fatigue grid with 3 players
at each position then that team forfeits that game. Purposeful
overuse of players will not be tolerated and further penalties will
be imposed including being kicked out of the league. If a coach
overuses a player and that coach's team does not make the playoffs
then penalties will be imposed for the following year's regular
season.
8. In the playoffs players are not limited in playing time (but are
still limited in the fatigue grid) except in the number of games they
may play based upon the following chart: if a player is eligible to
play 1-14 regular season games then he may play in 1 game per playoff
series, if a player is eligible to play 15-29 regular season games
then he may play in 2 games per playoff series, if a player is
eligible to play in 30-40 regular season games then he may play in 3
games per playoff series, while a player who is eligible to play in
41 or more regular season games is not limited in this manner.
9. Setting the fatigue grid: the "fatigue grid" is the grid in the
gameplan with boxes for minutes listed at each position for each
player. [Contrast with the "lineup grid" which is the grid with the
6, 4, and 2 minute periods listed for each position during the game.]
a. Coaches must have at least 3 players with non-zero minutes
assigned in the fatigue grid per position for each game. Players
scheduled to miss the game must be set as ineligible and may not
count towards this 3-player limit.
b. A player must be assigned in the fatigue grid a number of
minutes equal to or less than the minutes per game listed for him
on the league roster. For example, a player rated on the roster at
PG and SG for a total of 35 minutes per game may be assigned 4
minutes at PG and 31 minutes at SG in the fatigue grid. Since we
use the "static" fatigue system there is really no need to modify
the fatigue grid at all (except for the computer coach to determine
fatigue and foul-trouble replacements in road games).
10. Maximum number of minutes a player can play in a game:
a. Though a player is not limited in the minutes he may play in any
particular game, the fatigue grid rules above present various
limits for each player.
b. A player may not be given minutes in any grid nor play at a
position where he does not have minutes allocated on the league
roster (in other words, Sabonis is never allowed to play guard!).
Additional game rules:
1. All play will be done on the computer. No board gaming with dice
is allowed.
2. A player may only guard an opposing position (through the use of
the "assign" button) if the defender is rated to play that position
(Sabonis is never allowed to defend a guard!). Exception: a player
currently playing point guard may defend the opposing shooting guard
and a player currently playing shooting guard may defend the opposing
point guard. For example, a player playing SF rated by SOM at SG,
SF, and PF may defend against the opposing PF (as long as all other
defensive matchups are also legal) but may not defend against the
opposing PG.
3. Face-to-face. Follow this sequence of events for setting strategy.
In each of the steps below, the visiting team makes its move first,
followed by the home team.
a. Select lineups.
b. Position offensive players (either inside or outside).
c. Set defensive match-ups.
d. Set defensive double-teaming.
e. Name players playing safe.
f. Name defensive inside block defender/intimidator.
g. Name type of offense (normal or fast break).
h. Name type of defense (normal or press).
i. Name style of defense (normal, close, or sag) for each player.
5. If a league member accidentally violates a rule during a game (for
example, accidentally setting his team for "home court advantage"
for his home team LOS against team NYO) then he must inform the
Commissioner who will have the Executive Committee impose a fair
penalty (for example, when NYO is next the home team against LOS
"home court advantage" should be used).
6. No team may use the press defense for more than 12:00 minutes of any game and
the press defense must be turned off when ahead by 10+ points (even if that means
calling a timeout at the first opportunity when the lead gets to 10+ points).
Option Settings in the game:
1. The Option Settings screens will appear after you start a league
basketball game. You must set to "manual" the game you want to play.
2. Select these settings on the following options:
a. On the Start Play screen
1) Which Days = Current Day Only
2) Summary Files = Save Summary Files
3) Home Court Advantage = Neutral Court
4) Rules = Current Rules
b. On the Update Preferences screen
1) Save Game Files
2) No Injuries
3) Visiting Team = Computer Coach (unless playing face-to-face)
4) Home Team = Human Coach
c. On the Autorest screen
3) Static Fatigue
4) No Autorest
Setting up computer coach profiles and gameplans:
1. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game.
2. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach and
select the 1999-00I league.
3. Set Defensive Profile. You should select the specific opponent you
are to be playing on this road game because this defensive profile
will be included in the gameplan sent to him and will be imported
into his system.
a. Select your opponent for the game.
b. Follow the instructions on the screen and in the manual for
these settings. Contact the Commissioner or another league member
for assistance if desired.
4. Select Gameplan and your team.
5. Edit your Gameplan -- the FATIGUE GRID screen:
a. GP = Actual games played. You may not change this number.
b. GS and INPCT. These numbers are mostly irrelevant to our
league. However, you may not modify the INPCT from 0 or 100 – a
player with INPCT=0 may not play inside and a player with INPCT=100
may not play outside on offense.
c. STLSHT = The Steal Shoot percentage which tells the computer
coach how often this player is to take a fastbreak shot off a steal
rating.
d. BLK = This number is irrelevant to our league except that YOU
MUST ENTER ZERO BLK MINUTES FOR A PLAYER WHO HAS ZERO MINUTES
ASSIGNED IN THE FATIGUE GRID or else the game will not run at all
(this is a bug in the sombk program).
e. PG, SG, SF, PF, C = These fields list the fatigue minutes to be
played at each position. A player may not be gridded at a position
for which he is not rated on the league roster. In each game at
least 3 PLAYERS MUST BE ASSIGNED FATIGUE GRID MINUTES AT EACH
POSITION. There is little reason to modify these numbers now that
we use the "static" fatigue system.
f. For the remaining fields on this screen, refer to the SOM manual
or ask the Commissioner for assistance.
6. Edit your Gameplan -- the LINEUP GRID screen: you may set the
lineup grid however you like with the restriction that a player may
not be gridded at a position for which he is not rated on the league
roster. For example, a player listed on the league roster at SG, SF,
and PF may never play or be gridded to play PG or C though he may be
lineup gridded to play any amount of time at any of his eligible
positions. Keep in mind that any player gridded for more than 12
consecutive minutes in any half will probably fatigue and be replaced
by the computer coach during that time.
7. Exporting a gameplan file to another coach:
a. First, determine what day on the schedule the game is to be
played:
1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League Game.
2) Select the 1999-00I league.
3) Page ahead using N for next day until you come to the game in
question. If you look at the top of the listing of games for
that day it gives the schedule-related day number.
4) Write this number down.
b. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game.
c. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach.
d. Select the 1999-00I league and your team.
e. See above for instructions on creating the defensive profile and
your gameplan. Make certain that you set as "ineligible" those
players who are scheduled to miss the game – this is the easiest
thing to make a mistake on and it's a pain in the butt for everyone
(including the Commissioner) to correct this mistake – so DOUBLE-
CHECK your gameplan versus the games missed list.
f. Once you have set the defensive profile and the gameplan as you
want (within league rules), from the screen with the lineup grid
choose Export Gameplan.
g. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:.
h. When prompted for a filename, name the file according to these
conventions:
1) filename = AAAHHHnn
2) AAA represents the 3 character symbol for the away team
3) HHH represents the 3 character symbol for the home team
4) nn represents the two digit number for the day on the schedule
(see a above). For example, if you are team LOS, the team you
are sending the gameplan to is NYO, and the game is scheduled
for day 34 then type LOSNYO34.
i. The gameplan will be exported to the diskette.
j. Completely exit the game to DOS (for DOS or Windows assistance
please contact the Commissioner or another league member); the
simple version of the rest of this section is to e-mail the
gameplan to the opposing coach and keep a copy of the gameplan
in case the recipient didn't receive it.
8. Importing gameplan files from other coaches:
a. When you receive the e-mail message that has the opposing team's
gameplan attached to it, save the attached file (it should have a
name with the format AAAHHHnn.GPL) in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\
TRANSFER directory. Also, LET THE OTHER COACH KNOW THAT YOU
RECEIVED HIS GAMEPLAN by an e-mail message "I received the
gameplan."
b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS.
c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>.
d. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:.
e. Type GPIMPORT AAA HHH nn (for example GPIMPORT LOS NYO 34) and
hit <Enter>; alternatively, you may simply copy the gameplan onto
the diskette.
f. The opposing coach's gameplan will be moved onto the diskette.
g. Go into the SOM Basketball game.
1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League game.
2) Select the 1999-00I league.
3) Find the game in question, using page ahead or jump.
4) Change the game from Hold to Manual.
5) Start the game.
6) From the Lineup screen of the opposing team, choose Import
gameplan.
7) When prompted for a filename, click on the asterisk to list
the files on the diskette. The appropriate gameplan file will
be named with the convention AAAHHHnn.GPL (with AAA, HHH, and nn
defined previously).
8) Select the appropriate gameplan file. It will be imported
into your system.
9) Click on Continue to begin the game. If once you get to the
first strategy screen just before the game begins you notice
that the opposing coach has set a player who was scheduled to
miss the game as "eligible" then quit the game (right-click the
mouse at this point to abort the beginning of the game) and ask
the coach to send to you a legal gameplan – if this occurs very
near the deadline for sending game results to the Commissioner
then notify also the Commissioner of the error in the gameplan
10) You may shoot 3-pointers, play press defense, call timeouts,
etc. as desired during the game.
9.Exporting game results to the opposing coach and to the
Commissioner:
a. On the Process Game Files menu there is a selection entitled
Export Game File. Do not use this as it is not necessary.
b. Once the game is complete MAKE SURE THAT YOU WRITE THE BOXSCORE
TO A PRT FILE (this is an option listed after every game) AND WRITE
DOWN THE FILENAME (something like 990i0001.PRT).
c. Completely exit the game to DOS; for the simple version of the
rest of this section create a zip file of the appropriate name (for
example, LOSNYO34.ZIP) which contains all three of the 990i0001
files which includes the 990i0001.GFL, 990i0001.PRT, and
990i0001.SUM files and send this zip file to the Commissioner and
to your opponent.